Towards a strategy for social safety

In early October, the Executive Board announced that a social safety action plan must be developed by the end of the year. Acting general director Gerben Smit and HR director Patricia Gielis have taken the lead on this. The Executive Board is currently meeting with students, staff, internal and external experts, and deans to gain different perspectives on social safety and to use their experiences and preferences to help shape the new policy.

The contours of the new plan are already starting to emerge, with three elements taking clear precedence: prevention, care and cure.

Prevention
Which organisation-wide steps can we take to promote social safety in terms of conduct, organisational culture and leadership?
Care
What can teams and departments do when unsafe social situations arise? How can we hold effective conversations and provide constructive feedback?
Cure
What measures should be taken when individual cases of inappropriate behaviour arise? How do we set clear and transparent rules for handling these situations? How do we follow up on them and learn from them?

The ultimate goal is to establish agreements and practices that provide clarity and contribute to a socially safe academic and work environment for all – from students and staff to lecturers and administrators.

We’ll keep you up to date!